The present invention relates to materials designed to withstand high temperatures. More particularly, this invention relates to heat-resistant alloys for high-temperature applications, such as, for instance, gas turbine engine components of aircraft engines and power generation equipment. The present invention further relates to methods for repairing articles for high temperature applications.
There is a continuing demand in many industries, notably in the aircraft engine and power generation industries where efficiency directly relates to equipment operating temperature, for alloys that exhibit sufficient levels of strength and oxidation resistance at increasingly higher temperatures. Gas turbine airfoils on such components as vanes and blades are usually made of materials known in the art as “superalloys.” The term “superalloy” is usually intended to embrace iron-, cobalt-, or nickel-based alloys, which include one or more additional elements to enhance high temperature performance, including such non-limiting examples as aluminum, tungsten, molybdenum, titanium, and iron. The term “based” as used in, for example, “nickel-based superalloy” is widely accepted in the art to mean that the element upon which the alloy is “based” is the single largest elemental component by atom fraction in the alloy composition. Generally recognized to have service capabilities limited to a temperature of about 1200° C., conventional superalloys used in gas turbine airfoils often operate at the upper limits of their practical service temperature range. In typical jet engines, for example, bulk average airfoil temperatures range from about 900° C. to about 1100° C., while airfoil leading and trailing edge and tip temperatures can reach about 1150° C. or more. At such elevated temperatures, the oxidation process consumes conventional superalloy parts, forming a weak, brittle metal oxide that is prone to chip or spall away from the part.
Erosion and oxidation of material at the edges of airfoils lead to degradation of turbine efficiency. As airfoils are worn away, gaps between components become excessively wide, allowing gas to leak through the turbine stages without the flow of the gas being converted into mechanical energy. When efficiency drops below specified levels, the turbine must be removed from service for overhaul and refurbishment. A significant portion of this refurbishment process is directed at the repair of the airfoil leading and trailing edges and tips. For example, damaged material is removed and then new material built onto the blade by any of several methods, such as, for example, welding with filler material, welding or brazing new sections onto the existing blade, or by plasma spraying or laser deposition of metal powders onto the blade. The performance of alloys commonly used for repair is comparable or inferior to that of the material of the original component, depending upon the microstructure of the repaired material, its defect density due to processing, and its chemistry. Furthermore, in current practice, the original edge material is made of the same material as the rest of the original blade, often a superalloy based on nickel or cobalt. Because this material was selected to balance the design requirements of the entire blade, it is generally not optimized to meet the special local requirements demanded by conditions at the airfoil leading or trailing edges. However, maximum temperatures, such as those present at airfoil tips and edges, are expected in future applications to be over about 1300° C., at which point many conventional superalloys begin to melt. Clearly, new materials for repair and manufacture must be developed to improve the performance of repaired components and to exploit efficiency enhancements available to new components designed to operate at higher turbine operating temperatures.